This week University of Hawaii football coach Nick Rolovich has been rubbing elbows and trading tales with his peers at the American Football Coaches Association annual convention in San Antonio.
He will likely leave there as he arrived, one of the lowest-paid head coaches in the 129-member Football Bowl Subdivision on base salary.
The two-year contract extension announced by UH on Tuesday doesn’t figure to significantly alter that standing, but it does provide what he was looking for most, some security. And, presumably, at a price tag UH can afford.
A glance at the Rainbow Warriors’ schedules for the next three years underlines why job security is a priority.
UH did not play any opponents from the Power Five conferences this year in its run to a Hawaii Bowl appearance and 8-6 finish. But that degree of difficulty changes in a hurry going forward with three (Washington, Arizona and Oregon State) in 2019, three (UCLA, Oregon and Arizona) in 2020 and two (UCLA and Oregon State), both on the road, in 2021.
As an added bonus, Boise State is back on the schedule in ’19 and ’20.
If he had asked UH to show him the money and gotten just a one-year extension, Rolovich’s contract would have concluded after the 2021 season, which could be a precarious position given the upcoming strength of schedule.
But by going for security over up-front cash, which UH doesn’t have much of to throw around anyway, he now not only has a deal that runs through 2022 but a provision that grants an automatic extra year (2023) if he manages to take the ’Bows to a bowl in either ’19 or ’20.
He also has a shot at lucrative bonuses, if he can raise the program and its following.
Athletic director David Matlin declined to say how much of a raise Rolovich might be getting on the $425,004 — plus bonuses — he was due to collect for 2018.
The realities of UH’s financial situation are well known to Rolovich, who was last among the 12 head coaches in the Mountain West Conference in base salary this past season and has been in the bottom 10 of the FBS nationally since returning to his alma mater in 2015.
This while Fresno State figures to pay its coach, Jeff Tedford, as much as $3 million in salary and bonuses for the Bulldogs’ championship season — more than UH will pay its 11-member coaching staff.
But Rolovich, who has taken UH to two bowls in his three seasons while going 18-22 also realizes this deal keeps him as one of the highest-paid and, now, secured government employees in the state he prefers to live in.
The new deal in essence puts Rolovich on a four-year contract with a shot at a fifth year, which is also important to the program. It is a sign of stability to retaining assistant coaches and something he can take into the living rooms of recruits. No small consideration as the ’Bows finish up recruiting this year and prepare to embark on next year’s crop in coming months.
Asked if he got enough in the new agreement to buy a round of shots for his coaching buddies in San Antonio this week, Rolovich quipped in a text, “I’d buy shots anyway.”
Because this week both he and the ’Bows have something to celebrate.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
